Regardless of how they evolve, the best way to use all of these open source packages is to pick and choose the parts you need to assemble the Web application you want. For example, I eliminated Dojo’s editor from one of my projects when its text editor didn’t offer access to the data in the format that made my life easiest — so I switched.

It’s difficult to suggest one particular library as best or to make blanket statements about superiority because so much of the toolkits’ usefulness depends on your programming style and needs. I recommend taking a tour of each and even mixing and matching the libraries. After all, there are few practical reasons why you can’t use code from Atlas and Dojo on the same page.

Peter Wayner is contributing editor at InfoWorld and the author of more than 16 books on diverse topics, including open source software, autonomous cars, privacy-enhanced computation, digital transactions, and steganography.